Guarani-Kaiowá people’s tragedy exposes the indigenous extermination in the country.

Indigenous people threatened with eviction by the Federal Court are caught between gunmen and the Federal Government omission.

While the country gets distracted by the festival of lies and hypocrisy that dominates the second round of local elections, a real social tragedy takes place with one of the communities most targeted in face of the indigenous extermination policy implemented for decades in Brazil. A group from the tribe of the Guarani-Kaiowá in the town of Iguatemi in Mato Grosso do Sul, has been facing a death threat and screams for help.

The 173 indigenous people (50 men, 50 women and 73 children) camped outside the riverside Hovy since August 2011, besides the misery, besides the permanent threats from gunmen who act on the orders of farmers, besides the mass suicide caused by abandonment and lack of perspectives, are now also facing an eviction notice from the Federal Court of Naviraí (MS). A desperate letter written by the indigenous people and forwarded to the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) and also to parliamentarians exposes dramatically the situation to which the Guarani-Kaiowás are submitted.

“We urge the Government and the Federal Court for not to enact the eviction / expulsion, but enact our collective death and bury us all here. We ask, once and for all, to enact our extermination / total wipe out, besides sending several tractors to dig a big hole to throw and bury our bodies. This is our request to the Federal judges”, said the message, dictated during the meeting of the Guarani-Kaiowás the Aty Guasu.

The message, which was spread through social networks, is causing a collective outrage such as the one that took place during the eviction of Pinheirinho, in São José dos Campos (SP) earlier this year. “We know we have no chance to survive with dignity here, in our ancient land, we have suffered too much so far and we are all being massacred and dying in a fast rhythm. We know we will be evicted from the riverbank by the Courts, but we will not leave the riverbank. As native people and as historic indigenous people we have decided to die collectively. We have no other choice, this is our ultimate decision on the order of the Federal Court of Naviraí, MS”, says the final section of the message, which expresses skepticism with a Justice and a government that only benefit the large landowners.

Indigenous Genocide

The profound suffering of the group threatened with eviction discloses the genocide the indigenous people have been suffering in Brazil. According to figures from Indigenous Missionary Council – CIMI, between 2003 and 2010, no fewer than 555 indigenous Guarani and Kaiowá committed suicide due to the situation of abandonment, hopelessness and daily violence. Since 1980, 1.500 indigenous took out their own lives. The tribe, the second largest indigenous group in the country with 43.000 people, is increasingly trapped because of the unrestrained expansion of soybean and sugar cane crops, living in areas that add up merely 42.000 hectares.

Meanwhile, the federal government shows up conniving with indigenous extermination, remaining silent on this humanitarian disaster. Still according to the CIMI, since 1991, only eight indigenous lands were certified to the Guarani Kaiowá people.

It is necessary that Dilma Rousseff’s government intervene immediately in Iguatemi city, in order to prevent any repetition of what happened at Pinheirinho- São José dos Campos, and prevent another tragedy. At the same time, the government must stop prioritizing the interests of large landowners and advance on the demarcation and ratification of indigenous lands.

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La Voz De Los Trabajadores/Workers' Voice is a revolutionary socialist organization. We are the sympathizing organization of the International Workers League (LIT-CI) in the United States. We formed in California in 2008 around the struggles of the immigrant working class & the fight for militant, democratic trade unions and other workers’ and people’s organizations that defend the principle of class independence.